News / Poland have the 3rd best Education System of Europe [49]


We're not talking about the Matura, but rather the general system of education. I'd argue that the Polish emphasis on obtaining a general education is what is driving the PISA scores up, combined with a centralised system. It's more or less what the Finns adopted, the only thing lacking is treating the profession very seriously.


At the university level? The fact that courses are essentially made up without any supervision by others (if you're familiar with the UK, then it would be called validation), that blatant cheating is often ignored, and many other things. I've heard stories of unbelievable sexism displayed by older professors, and marking is often arbitrary and clearly made up.


All I can say is that something is working. Having visited Finland to observe their schooling system, I can tell you that one notable thing is that there's very little difference between the Finnish classroom and the Polish classroom at the 12+ level, except that grades are seen as pointless in the Finnish system, which I agree with.

Please read this

elementary.meridian.edu.pl/pdf/Teachers_Handbook.pdf

It is absolutely shocking. Can You imagine working there?

Law / Driver license: Moroccan/UAE into Polish exchange / convention. Zameldowanie (residence registration) [13]


No, actually, there's some logic to it. By the law, you have to be resident in Poland for at least 185 days before applying for a driving licence. This means that the zameldowanie is the proof of this.


Welcome to the world of identity fraud. There's a reason why the UK has such huge problems while Poland has minimal problems.

The zameldowanie system should be kept, but it should work like the Finnish system. You turn up (or do it online), you tell them "I now live here" and everything is fine. It then functions as your official address for everything, including tax purposes.


You don't have to pay for it.


Yes, but identity theft is a huge problem.

News / Poland have the 3rd best Education System of Europe [49]


It's true. Poland has been doing astonishingly well at the secondary level. For all the moaning about the Matura, the evidence suggests that the school reform into 6+3+3 plus a change in general culture has worked well. I suspect the Polish focus on obtaining a broad education also doesn't hurt, especially compared to the narrow UK focus.

It's the tertiary level where Poland is failing badly, due to the PRL-era law that granted autonomy to universities and hence the ability for them to allow all sorts of nonsense.

News / Regain banking assets - new Polish finance minister supports privatisation in Poland. Corruption? [33]


It's tiny. PKO BP is far, far bigger.

PKO BP bought Nordea recently, didn't they? I seem to remember that they've got quite a bit of cash put away for future acquisitions too.

News / Does democratic Poland guarantee it's LGBT citizens respect for human and civil rights? [1169]

Everyone knew about Grodzka before the election, it was one of the highest profile candidates for Ruch Palikota at the time.

How someone could vote for a candidate without knowing anything about them is beyond me.

News / Regain banking assets - new Polish finance minister supports privatisation in Poland. Corruption? [33]

Obsession, rather.


Buy back? Most of these banks were never owned locally in the first place. Alior is owned by a Italian-French company, and was never in Polish hands to begin with.

News / Does democratic Poland guarantee it's LGBT citizens respect for human and civil rights? [1169]


It doesn't work like that in Poland. Candidates are elected because of how many personal votes they get combined with the total percentage for their party. So if a party gains two mandates, then the two candidates with the most votes from the list get elected.

News / Those making less than 12,000 ZŁ a year in Poland shouldn't be taxed - proposal went to the Polish parliament [17]


Which PiS will increase to pay for higher personal allowances.

The government doesn't have an unlimited pot of money, and all these populist PiS proposals can only be funded by raiding SME's.

As for homeless begging in Wrocław, it's a peculiarly Wrocław problem. It doesn't happen much in other cities, but for some reason, Wrocław seems to have real issues. Those looking in bins have problems with alcohol, not with poverty.

this thread is wandering OT

News / Those making less than 12,000 ZŁ a year in Poland shouldn't be taxed - proposal went to the Polish parliament [17]

I certainly could agree to a 12,000zł tax free amount if it meant also cleaning up the black economy in which many low-paid workers reside.

News / Poland Parliamentary elections 2015 [1060]


He apparently posted a programme a few days ago online which was taken from the 1989 election campaign of Solidarność, got caught out and then tried to claim that it was just a joke.

Despite having plenty of time to come up with a programme, it seems that He is doing very little to actually build it. I think He knows that it is easy to be against the system but difficult to propose real change.

News / Those making less than 12,000 ZŁ a year in Poland shouldn't be taxed - proposal went to the Polish parliament [17]

In defence of Polonius You are wrong.

Zł is the currency sign for the Polish Złoty.

Study / Quality issues in Politechnika Wroclawska. Planning for Politechnika Warszawska. Suggestions. [48]


The thing is, the instruction in good universities is quite good in Polish. The various technical universities have been producing an astounding amount of talented graduates, but they all have one thing in common. That thing in common is that they study in Polish, not in English.

Study / Quality issues in Politechnika Wroclawska. Planning for Politechnika Warszawska. Suggestions. [48]

Guys, guys. Poland is very attractive because it offers a 2 year "free" residence permit without the need to obtain a work permit. Someone from India can come here, pass a ridiculously easy course, get a starter level job in some corporation that will hire anyone with a pulse, and in two years, transfer to richer countries.

It's an established path these days.

Study / Quality issues in Politechnika Wroclawska. Planning for Politechnika Warszawska. Suggestions. [48]

The two year free residence permit after graduation tends to have something to do with it.

No-one comes to Poland for a quality education in English, particularly as Germany offers free studies to all students irrespective of origin.

Stick to the topic

Study / Quality issues in Politechnika Wroclawska. Planning for Politechnika Warszawska. Suggestions. [48]

So go back to India.

I mean, you didn't come to Poland for a quality education, right?

News / PKP buys Alstrom Pendolino trains for € 665 million [60]

No, they're already at 200km/h on the CMK. The CMK was originally built and designed for 250km/h, so it's just a matter of upgrading the physical infrastructure to allow it. It should happen within the next few years.

From what I understand of train construction, there's little point in developing a high speed train over 200km/h as it consumes vast amounts of money without much of a market. Are you familiar with the Fyra farce in the Netherlands? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V250_%28train%29

Essentially, PESA did the right thing by developing a train that will run at 160km/h in normal service. There's huge demand throughout Europe for such trains, not only in Poland. But they're also quite easy to build and develop, whereas the farce of the V250 and the AGV shows that high speed trains are much more difficult to deal with. Even Siemens is having huge problems with getting the Velaro into service with Eurostar and Deutsche Bahn.

Pendolinos are also a proven and mature technology, which helps. PKP Intercity would be criticised to hell if they spent years working with PESA on a high speed train that wasn't reliable, and given the low price paid for the Pendolinos, I think it was a wise move.

Work / Salary expectations in Poland [373]

EU funding certainly will not stop in 2020. While 100 billion Euro is unlikely to be offered again, Poland's size and position means that there will still be a significant amount of funding in the 2020-2026 cycle.

Meanwhile, in the cities, a startup culture is starting to really develop. I'm actually giving a short talk at one such event later today.

News / PKP buys Alstrom Pendolino trains for € 665 million [60]

200km/h in test conditions is easy to achieve, but as the article notes, 160km/h will be the normal speed in service. The problems occur when trying to get trains to run at above 200km/h in normal service. PESA doesn't have the know-how or the experience to build such trains, while the Pendolino is capable of reaching 250km/h in normal service.

Work / Salary expectations in Poland [373]

It's hardly a backwards country. Investment is flooding in, and those with an ability to actually do something can earn very good money here.

Furthermore, it's safe.

News / Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland [472]

The thing with Kukiz is that I'm not sure that his politics can stand up for a sustained campaign. PiS (particularly in the East) will be very afraid of his nationalism taking away their voters among young people, and in the West, he'll come under a huge amount of attack for his conservatism.

Taking the poll from the 1st of June into account.


45% might - just - be enough to get 231 seats in the Sejm. But that would be an electoral disaster for PiS as they would win the election, but be faced with a razor thin majority and a coalition partner with no experience in national politics. Kukiz could simply refuse to vote on an issue (any issue) and the PO/NowoczesnaPL grouping would be able to defeat the government. For PiS, it would be a disaster, as they would be forced to act like a Government while being constantly held up by a coalition partner.

Kukiz will fade away as time goes on. He will appoint people to electoral lists who will then be assassinated locally and endlessly by both PO and PiS, who undoubtedly learnt a lesson from 2010 and Ruch Palikota. He'll get 10% of the vote, but it won't be enough to form a viable government with PiS.

News / Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland [472]


The data from GUS suggests that there hasn't been any sudden spike. I have access to retail information, and there's nothing that suggests that Duda's victory has changed much except that the markets are rather jittery at the thought of PiS winning later this year.

The other reason that I know that you happen to be lying is that everyone this week has gone away for the long weekend. No-one is doing business this week, as witnessed in my own business. Anyone claiming that business is "booming" during this week is clearly full of it.


Suggest that you're making this up. The swing from PO to PiS in the Presidential election was only around 5.5%, which is rather minor.

Incidentally, numbers from the Presidential election in PO stronghold cities stayed somewhat consistent, which rather proves that you seem to be making things up. An example occured in Szczecin, Komorowski won 64% in 2010 and 61% in 2015. There was a small swing of around 2% to PiS, but nothing that could suggest that PO strongholds moved to Komorowski. Elbląg was around 62-38% in 2010 and 60-40% in 2015.

If you wish to present me with some evidence that PO strongholds went over to PiS, then I'd like to see it. There were some cases, such as Rzeszów that went from 51-49 Komorowski to around 56-44 Duda, but Rzeszów would never be called a PO stronghold. Perhaps Wrocław? It was 65-35 in 2010 and 58-41 in 2015.

As far as I know, there were no dramatic swings to either PO or PiS in the presidential election. Perhaps you should rethink your lies?

News / Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland [472]

I think it's time for Kaczyński to retire from politics. Duda's success shows that PiS can win elections if the candidate has the energy to enthuse the electorate, but Kaczyńśki is just tired, old and jaded. Look at his public appearances, as they lack energy and he simply doesn't have the power for the job. He avoids meeting the public in general, and his appearances are mocked by most of the electorate for being stage managed. Even PiS voters these days seem to be fed up with him, and it's notable that he hasn't received any credit for Duda's win.

When I compared Duda's 2015 election campaign with Kaczyński's 2011 campaign, you can really see the huge difference. Duda was travelling all over Poland to try and secure votes, while Kaczyński managed to associate himself with a ridiculous stage-managed "win" at the PiS conference.

There are plenty of capable politicians within PiS, but Kaczyński needs to realise that PiS is not about him anymore.

News / 23 Shale Wells Drilled This Year Alone in Poland - 41 More to Go... [50]


As I recall, wasn't it someone involved with coal and Russia that was behind the whole recording of politicians in Warsaw?

Polonius, yes, it's an area that Poland should really try and focus on. The EU will provide considerable resources in that direction, and should something viable happen that doesn't result in huge environmental issues, then the EU will fund it even more. The two biggest problems are that the price of gas at the minute is too low to make alternative technologies worthwhile, and that gassification of coal results in a significant environmental impact.

The issue of the trade unions is also a huge problem. They have a lot to lose from on-site gassification and carbon capture schemes, as the price of coal would drastically reduce due to the lack of need to transport it. They would also lose considerable influence over the mines, which they may not want.

It's a tough one, but in my opinion, the best approach would be to get the LNG terminal online and then try and convince the United States to start exporting LNG too. That should make the construction of additional storage tanks feasible, and should allow Poland to import a huge amount of LNG. Combined with German and Norwegian exports and re-exports, Poland should be pretty secure energywise.

News / Presidential elections and debates 2015 Poland [472]


We'll see how long he lasts when he comes up against an electoral machine that's used to winning elections. Kukiz won't only have to worry about PO, he'll also have to worry about PiS in the Eastern provinces. So far, he hasn't attracted any political power at all, which is what matters in an election. If you consider that Kukiz has a parallel with Twój Ruch in 2011, then look at how many experienced campaigners Palikot had to call on. Kukiz has nothing so far, and this will likely hurt him.


Disaster for PiS in your scenario. They would be facing a coalition partner that would offer them constitutional changes in exchange for some very odd populist policies, and it could lead to yet another 2006-2007 situation arising again. A better result would be something around 55% combined, as it would allow them to govern without the distraction of constitutional changes.

As for Kukiz, the MSW would probably be a red line in order to prevent Kaczyński repeating history and using the MSW against him. Remember, Kukiz is building his reputation on destroying the existing system, and allowing Kaczyński to control the MSW would be a disaster for him.

Looks like PiS are also realising that Kukiz is a threat to them.

rp.pl/artykul/1205747.html

To explain - MP Pawłowicz from PiS (of infamous eating in the Sejm fame) is mocking Kukiz for apparently having abandoned Poland already.

As for Duda, there are certainly growing murmurings that PiS may be starting to move away from Kaczyński's authority now that they've got someone to rally around. It's certainly telling that Duda won the Presidential election by putting in a lot of hard work, which Kaczyński has never done.

News / 23 Shale Wells Drilled This Year Alone in Poland - 41 More to Go... [50]

Which is why even if shale gas doesn't really happen, Poland is still doing a fantastic job on energy diversification.

Did you know that in recent times, the ability to import gas from Germany and Norway has come on-line without much fanfare or fuss?

Poland has also gone very cold on the EU when it comes to coal.

As far as I know, the issues with shale gas in Poland is that the regulatory environment in Europe is drastically different to the USA. Over there, the gas companies were allowed to more or less do what they wanted in order to establish the industry. Combine that with the fact that the reserves have proved to be far less than expected, and with a low price of gas, there's just no point in carrying on.

However, I'd say that getting another LNG terminal online, perhaps somewhere further east, might be a very wise idea. Getting more gas pipelines in place, particularly to Lithuania also makes a lot of sense.

News / Kopacz wants PO to hire more professional PiS-bashing haters [66]

The LNG port is nearly finished. As I said above, the delays were caused by EU tendering rules requiring the lowest bidder wins, and thus the winning company tried the usual tactic of asking for more money.

Talking further about PiS and hate...


ncronline.org/news/global/indelible-stain-hate


thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/100556,Proposed-homosexual-hate-speech-law-gay-fascism-says-conservative-MP

And even crude attempts at propaganda...


newstatesman.com/books/2010/04/poland-european-party-polish

Poor show, Polonius3.

Law / Child Support Advice - starting a case in Poland from the UK? [5]

Urge him to compile a dossier of evidence. He should obtain as much as possible, and preferably copies of things such as CSA letters from the UK and a letter confirming that the child is registered in the school in question.

Having said this, if he earns less than roughly 1100zl a week gross in Poland, he will pay nothing in child support.

News / Kopacz wants PO to hire more professional PiS-bashing haters [66]

Nastiness, Polonius?

Premier Marcinkiewicz can tell all about that.

irishtimes.com/news/anger-in-poland-over-spying-claims-1.959063


Don't forget that curiously, PiS exempted the RCC from lustracja. Why?

Law / Child Support Advice - starting a case in Poland from the UK? [5]

The case is where the child is resident. The Polish court in this case has no jurisdiction, and her threats can be safely ignored.

However, don't discount the possibility of her attempting to register the child in Poland, perhaps at a grandparents address. In that case, the friend must be well prepared to show that the child is actually resident in the UK.

Work / Salary expectations in Poland [373]

Dominic, perhaps consider that this offer is an excellent way to get into those Western jobs?

I know you taught English in Poland and thus know nothing about these kind of jobs, but your advice is completely unrealistic. No-one in the US is going to hire someone like him without some Western experience.